New Committee to Define Transaction Standards for Smart Grid
The international open standards consortium OASIS has formed a new group to enable the collaborative and transactive use of energy, according to an Aug. 25 press release.
The OASIS Energy Interoperation Technical Committee will develop Web services-based information and communication models for exchanging dynamic pricing, reliability, and emergency signals. The group's work will also extend to information on energy market participation (such as bids), load predictability, and generation.
“Dynamic pricing is key to addressing the growing needs for lower-carbon, lower-energy buildings, and net zero-energy systems,” explained David Holmberg of NIST, co-chair of the committee. “For energy providers and consumers to engage in dynamic pricing, we need standards that support automated, timely, and secure communication of pricing, capacity, and other grid information.”
“Our work … will enable consumers to take advantage of lower energy costs by deferring or accelerating usage,” added William Cox, co-chair of the committee. “By enabling consistent data communication technology, the same model will be able to be used for homes, small businesses, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and electric vehicles. The same communications could be used inside and outside microgrids in office parks, college campuses, and green neighborhoods.”
The committee will base its work on the Open Automated Demand Response Communication Standards (OpenADR), donated by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Demand Response Research Center (DRRC). The project has been identified as a central deliverable for the U.S. government's strategic SmartGrid initiative to create a smart and secure electric power grid using open standards.
Participation in the committee is open to all interested parties. Archives of the committee's work will be accessible to both members and non-members, and OASIS will offer a mechanism for public comment.
“We believe that the energy industry is at a tipping point, and the thorough exploration and adoption of core consensus standards in addition to new emerging standards will be critical to the development of new products and services that will modernize the electric grid. EnerNOC is proud to lend its experience as an innovative technology thought leader and trusted partner to thousands of commercial and industrial sites to the OASIS consortium,” said Darren Brady, chief operating officer, EnerNOC.
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of open standards for the global information society.